Shout it to the Heavens
by ronhermy
Summary: My telling of the story of Bleach. Based on the manga with differences of course . Read to see if it's Ichiruki or Ichihime. And I actually wrote the Kenpachi battle before it was finished in the real manga..so I was half right with that battle..
1. Chapter 1

A/U: This is a repost. I was in the middle of writing this story based on the actual manga but told in my way. But I took a long break. Posting it again to see if I can get people to read it..

_Bleach: Shout it to the Heavens_

Chapter One- Aspirations of the Strongest

An earsplitting scream filled the ever-lasting blue sky as Kenpachi brought his zanpaktou down on Nnoitra's six-armed form with both hands.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he looked at the grand effects this seemingly simple tactic had on Kenpachi's ability to cut through Nnoitra's defense. Nnoitra had crossed all six of his blades across each other to try and block Kenpachi's onslaught but was caught by surprise when his blade sliced clean through all of them except the one in his lower right hand, which was saved because of the odd angle it was in. But unfortunately for Nnoitra, Kenpachi's blade was long so half of it also cut through his chest and abdomen, splitting his whole midsection nearly all the way open.

"Shit!" Nnoitra shouted as he jumped back a couple of feet and went down on one knee to gather his composure. "What...the hell?! What a frickin' dumbass move! All you do is use both hands...and you receive this much strength?! What a boring technique..." He was gasping these words out as it seemed the couple of ruptured organs prevented him from releasing his intended frustrations.

"Technique? Just because you can put a name to a certain move, doesn't mean you can call it a technique. I don't believe in using one of those during my fights...With my strength, I don't need any pointless trick to cut you down!" Kenpachi retorted.He could feel the momentum galloping back on his side as he saw how much of Nnoitra's blood was left on his zanpaktou. Sure, his blood was soaked on each of his opponent's blades as well, but he only had one blade after all and the amount of blood on his was comparable to those six.

Nnoitra widened his eyes in rage. "Don't get cocky, you shinigami bastard!" Nnoitra was beginning to look as if he had completely insane, a smirk reaching nearly to his ears plastered on his face and his one good eye arched as far as Ichigo could possibly fathom they could arch.

Away from the battle, Orihime had made it back over to Ichigo after her attempt at saving Yachiru from Nnoitra. She knew that she did the right thing in going to the young girl's rescue but she still felt foolish. What made her think she could've done anything that Kenpachi couldn't do to stop Nnoitra? She had to have looked stupid out their nearly in the middle of the battlefield when Kenpachi came back and sliced off Nnoitra's arm before he could even test the strength of her barrier. She bowed her head as she continued to heal Ichigo and Nel.

The orange-haired shinigami noticed the look on Orihime's face however. "What's the matter, Inoue?" He couldn't understand how she could possibly look so defeated when things were finally looking so good for them.

"It's nothing..." Upon looking at Ichigo's unconvinced expression, Orihime tried harder to reassure him. "Really, Kurosaki-kun, it's nothing at all! It's just taking a lot of my concentration to try and heal all of your wounds! You know, with how hard you were still fighting against Nnoitra, it's hard to believe how horrible you've been hurt in your fight against Grimmjow..." She choked up a little at the end of her sentence but it went unnoticed by Ichigo.

"Yea, that's true I suppose. But the way that he and his cronie were handling you really pushed me over the edge..." Orihime blushed at his kind words. But his next words caused her to come back to normal. "You're a great friend, Inuoe, and I'll be damned if I'll let anyone treat you like that!"

They were great words from Ichigo but, and she hated that she could possibly think of something like that at a time like this, something bothered her that he called her a friend. Granted, she was his friend of course. Maybe it was just her desire that she be more than that for him that made it not seem like that much to her. Her upbeat personality wouldn't allow that disappointment to seep through her to Ichigo however. "Thanks, Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo turned his attention back towards Nnoitra and Kenpachi. One thought had been bothering him in the back of him mind. Had Kenpachi used only one hand the whole time back during their fight in Soul Society? He couldn't quite remember too well but there was a high possibility that that was the case. He knew that _he_ was using both hands and taking advantage of the help from Zangetsu. This tidbit of information made him feel very lucky that he was able to make it to Rukia to save her. Was Kenpachi that powerful? He hadn't even achieved Bankai, although being a captain, as far as Ichigo knew.

A flashback of Kenpachi chasing after him, demanding a rematch between them suddenly flashed through Ichigo's mind. Sweat beaded from his forehead as he smirked a little. _Screw that! He's never gonna catch me if I have anything to do with it!_

Back on the battlefield, Nnoitra was glaring at Kenpachi, his breathing heavy. A smile spread across his lips, which really made him look very creepy with the gaping hole in his left eye. He began to snicker. "Are you daft, Shinigami? Or can you just not count?" He brought his one remaining zanpaktou in front of him and began to grab it with all six of his hands. "You say that using two hands makes you a lot stronger than before? Well, let's see what will happen when I slash you behind the power of SIX of mine!" Nnoitra once again charged at his opponent, who's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed in concentration.

"This is what I'm talking about! Bring it, Espada! A final blow to determine who's the strongest of them all!" Kenpachi raced towards Nnoitra, zanpaktou still grasped tightly in his two strong hands.


	2. Chapter 2 Shame and Regret

Disclaimer: I forgot to mention in the last chapter, even though it should be obvious, I don't own Bleach, this great series belong to Tite Kubo.

A/U: Hopefully I'll get reviews this time around..lol This chapter should be better all around

Chapter 2- Shame of an Espada and Regret of a Brother

A blade tore through bone and flesh, the tip of it now protruding from the upper-left portion of the warrior's back. Blood began to escape his weakening posture in quick spurts, painting the blade a deep crimson red. A coughing fit overcomes him, more blood decorating the white sand beneath both of their feet. His vision begins to betray him as the zanpakto is pulled slowly from the now gaping hole in his chest, cutting through more skin and blood vessels once missed on the first time through. He grabs onto the victor's tattered clothes shamefully and stretches it a little as he feels himself falling to the ground.

_How? I had control! How could his blade cut me at all? I...refuse to believe..I'm not..._ He gazes up and meets eyes with a curious glance from his opponent, who's head was tilted to the side. As if expecting a sign as to if he was finished with his job finally. As if he had wasted enough time with him and was ready to move on to bigger fights. The dying warrior roared his head back in anger.

"The strongest Espada! Me! I'm..unbeatable! To think I can be defeated by a fucking shinigami like you! Shi--!" Another coughing attack of blood interrupted his claims. He fell completely down to his knees and slumped his shoulders, feeling too weak to hold them up any longer.

"Tch, give it up Espada..You know by now that you're nowhere near the strongest, or perhaps not even as strong as your little ranking claim to be..It's shameful for a proud fighter to keep talking of aspirations much larger than himself.." Kenpachi frowned down at Nnoitra's shaking head.

"Shut up...H-how dare you..You have no idea...no idea how hard I've worked to get to where I'm at now! I've eaten loads of my fellow arrancar, quietly got rid of those somehow stronger than me! That's why I smashed that bitch's head in back then!" Nnoitra pointed towards the orange orb Orihime kept casted around Ichigo and Nel. Orihime looked repulsed as Ichigo glared back into Nnoitra's eyes. They didn't need him to remind them of his cowardly attack on Nel.

"And tell me, what did all that get you dumbass..You're on your knees in front of me, trying not to choke to death from your own blood...Aizen must really be proud of all of your hard work..." Nnoitra frowned at Kenpachi's insinuation. Kenpachi raised his zanpakto over his shoulder. "That's it, I'm bored of this so called fight! I'm off to find someone worthy enough of me using this guy's true power..." Zaraki turned around to leave the battlefield.

"Where are you going, Shinigami?! Come back and try to finish the job! I'm still an arrancar you know! Are you sure you should leave someone like me alive?!" Nnoitra tried to taunt him into another fight, trying to think of any way possible to turn this back around in his favor. However, Zaraki doesn't even respond to even hearing the echo of his voice. "You're a dumb shit, aren't you! I swear...cough if you leave me alive, when I come back I'll hunt down human and shinigami alike and devour their souls and it'll be all your fault! You'd have that on your conscience?!" Still, Kenpachi continued walking away from him. This damaged his ego beyond repair. "Stop ignoring me, you bastard! I command your sorry ass to come back and fight me!"

Kenpachi finally stopped his march and turned his head back toward Nnoitra. "Why the hell should I? First, as I've mentioned earlier, before you can command me to do anything, you should command your brain to tell your knees to get off of the ground...I refuse to play with any prey that can't bite back! It's as simple as that..This may go against what you believe of the Shinigami, Espada, but I don't care if you prey on the weak really! If anything, that just means you could possibly be stronger when you decide to find me again!" He smirked. "Until then, stop wasting your energy asking for certain doom..You're dying anyways aren't you?" Nnoitra frowned deeply. He began to look as if he was depressed. "Hmph! As I've said, I'm bored of this fight..I'm off!"

While Kenpachi was putting the finishing touches on Nnoitra, Captain Unohana had found Hanatoro(sp?), Kuchiki Byakuya and Kuchiki Rukia sitting in the same area where Byakuya had just earlier killed the seventh Espada, Zommari. Hanatoro was attempting to heal Rukia completely, as requested by Byakuya whom also was in need of dire healing but insisted on Rukia having the first turn, but he had also been injured so his healing powers were hampered from being as strong as they could be. Unohana stepped to them. Hanatoro, noticing her shadow, looked up and was caught by surprise.

"C-captain! You've come to Hueco Mundo?! Have you run into any of the enemy?" Hana asked, seemingly worried. Unohana simply smiled gently.

"Do not worry about me little one! I indeed ran into some disturbances that called themselves the Exquisitors but they seemingly wasn't interested in a fight so I escaped a great potential for battle for the time being. Now, it seems as if you're the one in need of a little help! I'm here to help you as much as I can!" Unohana had a twinkle in her eyes as she spoke to Hanatoro.

"U-uh, yes ma'am! Of course! Your help will be greatly appreciated! I'm sorry that I couldn't do it myself though..." He felt as if he had let her down by making her have to help out. But she didn't seem the least bit upset about any of that.

"It's alright, my dear Hana! Situations occur that hinders the spirit sometimes, I understand completely. Rest now, you're tired from your hard work. I'll heal all three of you!" She raised her hand and pointed her finger at each soul reaper individually. A light blue aura surrounded them, basking them in soft, radiant light. Each wound began to stitch themselves together, a stopper to the blood trickling down. Byakuya's arm and leg, in which, he had severed function with during his fight with Zommari were becoming movable once again. Due to Hana's hard work from earlier already healing most of it, the hole in Rukia's midsection had completely sealed itself shut already. She opened her eyes a little and confusion was apparent on her expression. "Why, hello, Kuchiki-san! It's nice to see you once again! I was afraid for a while there we would not be able to greet each other again but thanks to your brother, we won't be having to worry about that for a while now!" Unohana was beaming. "Now, even as captain of the fourth division, I'm willing to say that my healing abilities may not live up to your nakama, Orihime Inuoe's, but I'd say they're quite remarkable, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, ma'am. But did you say Nii-sama? He came to rescue me? So..I wasn't dreaming?" Rukia seemed a little surprised. Her violet eyes gleamed with feelings of awe for her brother.

Unohana giggled. "No, you weren't Kuchiki-san! Surely you know by now how protective he is over you. I'm sure he raised quite a scene once he saw you in trouble here!"

"Y-yes, you're right Captain Unohana..I'm really grateful..." Rukia looked over at Byakuya's resting body, then closed her eyes to rest again.

Byakuya opened his eyes, hearing Rukia's words. He heard her talk about how he rescued her. This only made him feel more angry, rather than happy. He felt that he wouldn't have had to rescue her if certain orange and red, spiky-haired shinigami had succeeded in protecting her as they had claimed many times that he desired to. "Retsu..." He called out to Unohana.

"Yes, Byakuya? Are you alright?" She walked closer to him to better talk to him. He adjusted his robe enough to hide the hole where he had cut his arm to release himself from Zommari's control. His pride as a noble wouldn't allow his image to falter to that of someone having to damage himself to defeat an enemy, most likely.

"Yes, I'm better than most at the moment." Unohana thought back on the fluctuating reiatsu of the two other captains that had come to Hueco Mundo, of Ichigo and his friends and the respective Espada they were facing and somewhat agreed with Byakuya. "But there may be two more people that will need your abilities a lot more than everyone else here if I see them before we leave..."

"Now, Byakuya. Sometimes, things are not what they seem and need to be investigated thoroughly before being charged into! I don't find this case to be an exception to that rule! Please remember that before you decide to do anything reckless!" Unohana tried to reason with the sixth division captain.

Byakuya only looked as if he was contemplating for a moment and then closed his eyes as a response. "Well, I am almost done with healing you! As soon as we're done, we can meet with the others and make our grand escape from this place finally! That will surely lighten many spirits, I'm sure of it!"

Unohana's smile seemed to radiate everything around her as she continued to make sure that her three patients were properly brought back to their normal selves.

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A/U: Hope you enjoyed this second chapter. I enjoyed writing it, I got a couple ideas on how I want this story to continue. And I got a question, was Hanatoro aware that Unohana was in Hueco Mundo when he arrived there? A small thing but I wasn't sure..hope to hear from reviewers soon! Chapter 3 soon, Reunion


	3. Chapter 3 Reunion

These next two characters that make appearances may be a lil OC but this is how i picture their conversations..and once again, I do not own Bleach

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Chapter 3- Reunion and the Protector

A buzzing sound could be heard coming from the flashing monitor perused by a blue-haired man in all white robes. His eyes so squinted and lips curling into what seemed like an ever-lasting grin, it was hard to tell what exactly was on the young looking man's mind. But with an occassional grunt emitting from the back of his throat, whatever he had been surveying on the current page on the monitor couldn't have been too pleasing.

Footsteps behind the concentrating shinigami went unnoticed by his distracted ears. A black man, with dark shades covering his eyes and a sword hanging on his left side looked questioningly at his mysterious companion. He had called his name out a couple of seconds earlier and was a bit peeved that he was ignored. "I said, what is it...Gin?" He called out more forcibly to get his attention.

The sitting Shinigami calmly looked up at his company and made a slight noise that resembled a snort. "Hey, Tousen! It's nice of you to visit me in the middle of my busy work today, I haven't had anybody to talk to lately."

"Eh..? What do you mean? I've been here for a while..Perhaps it's just your short attention span that disallows you from remembering talking to anybody for a while..." Tousen stared down at where he could sense Gin sitting. If Gin could've seen his eyes, he probably would have shuddered at the intense glare he was receiving.

"Hey, hey! Don't go looking at me. I'm not blind, so I don't have sharpened hearing to hear that much while I'm distracted by something important!" Gin almost pouted out his case to Tousen. He clicked on something on the monitor and it flipped to a different scene. "Tired of seeing that so off to something better.."

"This is the third time asking, what is it that you're doing, Gin!" Tousen became impatient. He couldn't understand how someone could be so quick to forget the subject at hand.

"Well, I WAS watching Nnoitra's battle with our old friend Kenpachi from the Soul Society but that's not interesting anymore. The fight's over." Gin calmly stated.

Tousen was taken aback as such news of a fight with their fifth strongest Espada and a captain with whom he had actually 'lost' to in Soul Society seemed to be surprising to have missed his ears. "It is? Well, who won?"

"Kenpachi." The calm in which this name escaped his lips confused Tousen to no end.

"Kenpachi?! He's defeated our fifth strongest Espada? Why are you so calm when something like this has happened?" He didn't know about Gin, but this was bad to him. He wasn't really expecting that ryoka and his friends to do much damage to them but with three captains now helping out, he wasn't quite sure. With the defeat of the fifth Espada, that means half of their elite squad meant nothing to the strength of the enemy. How would that sound to report back to Aizen right about now?

"Because it's nothing to be worried about, Tousen. Why do you think Aizen allowed Nnoitra to leave the fortress in the first place?" Gin mused. Tousen looked surprised. "I've told you before. Our army isn't complete. It isn't complete for the simple fact that every warrior is not a Vasto Lorde yet. So, we're going through a cleansing phase. Those who Aizen-sama finds to be at their highest peak at this point with no possibility of progressing any further, he's allowing them to go out to do battle. This is just the distraction we're seeing right now..." Gin's grin seemed to grow even wider the further into his explanation he delved.

"So, Aeronierro, Szayel, Zommari, Grimmjow and Nnoitra are all just pawns to Aizen-sama's plans huh? I was beginning to wonder why we weren't doing anything drastic to make up ground for all that we've lost...But, what about Ulquiorra? Surely, he isn't just a pawn with his strength." Tousen quizzed.

Gin looked slightly confused. "Aren't you usually the one to keep on top of things? I feel strange having to be the one to explain everything to you! But you're right, it was not planned for Ulquiorra to be out there fighting at this point. Grimmjow somewhat threw a curve in his path when he took that girl away from her room, remember?"

"Yea, he came in here asking if we'd seen him pass by." Tousen wasn't sure if he would call the method in which he went about wanting to know where that girl, Orihime Inuoe, went 'asking' though. He seemed quite angry, which was unusual for one as calm as he always was. It felt like he had wanted to take out his frustrations on the closest living being he could get his hands on, so they hurried and told him they hadn't seen him.

"Something's strange though. This monitoring system allows us to keep track of each Espada, from their surroundings to the fluctuations of their reiatsu to see if they're in a battle or not. For instance, for the past hour, Nnoitra's reiatsu has been flashing bright red because he was using almost all of his reiatsu in his fight with Kenpachi. Now, however, it's a cool blue because he's exausted it all. Szayel's is as well. But, I haven't seen any trace of Ulquiorra shortly after he went after Grimmjow to get the girl back. How can someone just disappear?" Gin scratched his blue hair. "Even if he was somehow killed, the system would tell me.."

"Are you forgetting about the status of Negacion? Aizen-sama implemented a 'button' in each of the Espada's hollow holes to imprison them in another dimension entirely if they became unruly." Tousen tsked at Gin's ignorance.

"I forgot about that one..Give me a break, you and Aizen are the ones that dealt with the interaction with the arrancar mostly."

"Didn't you see it happen on your little screen though?"

"I must've been tuning in on Szayel's battle at the time..." Gin muttered. Tousen couldn't help but compare Gin's actions to that of someone watching normal television. He shook his head a little. Gin perked up to something happening on the screen. "Ah, there's Captain Unohana, Captain Byakuya and my Rukia! What a great reunion this is turning out to be wouldn't you say, Tousen?" He looked up at his companion.

"Please, Gin, I am not interested in getting to know the characters in your little show...I prefer to wait until they come to where we're at to entertain them. Let me know if they do happen to head this way." With that, Tousen walked out of the monitoring room, Wonderweiss close on his heels.

"Will do!" Gin waved his hand the air without turning back. He kept his eyes on the four people now walking off towards the desert area of Las Noches. "Now, where are you headed my dear Rukia Kuchiki?"

On screen, the four warriors were approaching a group consisting of an orange haired shinigami, the girl that Grimmjow had kidnapped, a man who looked mexican, a man dressed in all white garb that resembled that of the Espada, a shinigami that looked as if he had a pineapple on top of his head and a very tall shinigami with large spikes for hair. They appeared to be talking amongst themselves for a while, with the orange-haired shinigami finally being released from the yellow orb he was under during the huge battle that had taken place. As he began walking towards the group, he suddenly grabbed onto the raven-haired girl.

"Ah, it seems someone is really happy to see you, eh Kuchiki-san? But I wonder how long this bliss will last? Someone might want to have a talk with Ichigo in a few!" Indeed, in the corner of the screen, a familiar reiatsu had emerged once again into existence...

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Ichigo had seen them when they walked up but he had only seen three people at first. Captain Unohana led the group, then he saw Hanatoro beside of her and then, his eyes widened at seeing him, Kuchiki Byakuya. So, Kenpachi wasn't the only one that Soul Society had decided to send to help them. Did that mean the rest of his friends were in trouble as well? He knew Rukia was but he had lost track of Renji and Ishida during the earlier chaos. Chad had found them a few minutes after Nnoitra had fallen to the ground and Kenpachi came over to check on their condition.

"Well, if it isn't the other two captains finally finishing their fights! What took you so long to get here?" Kenpachi asked arrogantly.

"What do you mean, Kenpachi? I've had enough to time to defeat the seventh Espada and have Unohana heal both my injuries and Rukia's injuries before you most likely finished here..." Byakuya answered, refusing to let it seem that Kenpachi handled everything better than he did.

"Tch..so how much healing were you in need of, Byakuya? Hehe.." Zaraki seemed to enjoy trying to get under the sixth division captain's skin.

"Much less than it seems you're in desperate need of right now, I assure you!" Byakuya eyed Kenpachi up and down, measuring the state he was in.

"Gentlemen, is all of that necessary at a time like this?" Unohana tried to step in between the war of words between the two captains.

Much of these words had been tuned out for Ichigo, however. He had stopped listening after Byakuya had mentioned something about Rukia's injuries being healed. "Rukia..?" he called out, grabbing Byakuya's and Kenpachi's attention away from each other for the moment. The named woman had finally stepped out from behind Byakuya and looked at Ichigo still inside of Orihime's yellow orb. She was about to speak when she was interrupted by another voice calling out for them.

"Hey, guys! We've finally found you!" It was Uyruu and Renji, looking tired and beat up but still enthusiastic after seeing their friends. They both looked over at Orihime at the same time. "And it seems you've gotten what we've all risked our lives for too! This is great, we can get out of here now!" Renji bellowed.

"Yea, it does seem to be that way." Ishida agreed, smiling.

"And Rukia too..." Renji started. The yellow orb holding Ichigo in had finally lifted. He got up, and without saying a word and to everyone's surprise, walked over to the rest of the group and embraced Rukia in a tight hug, cutting Renji off. It was so out of place for the moment, it left Kenpachi and Byakuya gaping at the way Ichigo was holding onto Rukia.

"I-Ichigo..?" Rukia had been shocked almost as much as everyone else. No one had ever seen Ichigo act like this before. Somewhat vulnerable and in need of affection. His bankai finally faded away, as there was no threat near anymore and he relaxed into her body even more. She instinctly put her arms around his neck to try and console him. She probably knew why he was acting like this but she didn't want to bring it up, knowing Ichigo wasn't a type of guy to let anyone in on his feelings. So, she just allowed her reaction to communicate her feelings over to him.

Rukia looked around at the rest of the group over Ichigo's shoulder, who had begun to look pointedly away from the two of them, as if they felt they were intruding in on a personal moment. Everyone except for Orihime that was. For an instant, Rukia could sense tears welling up in the back of her eyes. Deep sadness oozed from her eyes as she looked on at the hug that seemed to last an eternity to her. Rukia looked down.

"I thought you were dead, Rukia..I could barely feel you anymore and Ulquiorra told me...I should've realized he was just trying to throw my concentration off..." Ichigo released her from his grip but he still held onto her shoulders. At this moment, it appeared that he realized what he was doing and where he was doing it. He turned red and looked away from his friends as he muttered, "I should've never agreed to split up in the first place!"

A vein began throbbing on Rukia's temple. "It's not like you had a choice in the matter! I can take care of myself Ichigo! I've told you before that I don't need you to protect me at all times, you know!" She couldn't understand why he couldn't get that through his head. It was like he believed she'd be dead by now, in other words useless, without him being by her side all the time.

"Oh, is that why you almost died now?!" Ichigo looked back into Rukia's eyes. She moved her head back in alarm at the intensity in which he was staring at her. "What do you do, say 'Screw everyone else's opinion!'? It doesn't matter what those that care for you say does it? As long as you feel like you don't need me or anyone else, it's alright huh?" If the enviornment wasn't already tense enough, it was beginning to feel really unbearable for everyone else now.

It had stung. She hadn't known this was exactly how Ichigo was feeling the whole time. "Ichigo...It's not like that, at all! I'm just not this weak damsel in distress that you seem to picture me as, idiot! I'm stronger than you think, I can fight alongside you and everyone else!" They glared at each other, each too stubborn to give in to the other's arguments.

"Ichigo, Rukia! Please calm down..Don't forget, we have to get out of here before it's too late!" Uryuu finally found a good place to interrupt them to state.

"He's right. Even though I would love to stay and fight all of the Espada, orders were to just come and get you guys, including Orihime Inuoe, out of Hueco Mundo. We're all here now, there's no stopping us going back!" Kenpachi said. "And man, any more of this kinda stuff from you Ichigo and I may just change my mind about wanting a rematch with you after all..." Ichigo looked kind of relieved from this, however. Maybe he should hug Rukia a lot more often then...

"Let's go! I'm tired of this place!" Renji cried out as Byakuya reached out to open the Garganta once again. However, once it opened, another voice called out to them.

"Hey, you aren't forgetting about us now, are you?!" Mayuri had finally walked up behind them, with Nemu close in tow. He had two bodies in his palms, dragging on the ground behind him. "I've had some difficulty carrying these corpses around but no one seemed to have noticed..." He glared over at Renji and Uryuu, whom sweat-dropped and pushed his glasses up on his nose respectively in response.

"We told you before that we won't going to take chances with touching them..Wasn't any telling what Szyael could've done with those bodies..." Uryuu shouted from in front of the Garganta.

"Well, what about when I said I'd test it myself and pulled them down from their hangers..? You could've helped then, you cowards!" Mayuri was livid.

"We didn't know you'd be so gullible!" Renji taunted as he and Uryuu stepped into the portal to leave. Mayuri spit on the ground, and the others had a dumbfounded expression on their faces. Ichigo looked down at one of the bodies in his hand.

"Uh..isn't that Dordonii? How the hell did he end up like that?" he asked. He remembered that he had left him alive after their battle, not deflated as if someone had pulled out his skeleton without damaging the skin at all.

"Who? Who's Dordonii, Ichigo?" Rukia spoke up.

"Oh, he was the first arrancar I fought after we split up. He was a Privaron Espada, or an Espada before the ones that are in Aizen's army now." He explained.

"Ah, is that his name? I learned from that Quincy brat that the female specimen's name was Cirucci Thunderwitch but he wouldn't give anything about him. I'm speculating that Szyael had been experimenting on them before I got my hands on them as you can plainly see." Mayuri proceeded to throw the two bodies through the Garganta. "I hope they land on those insolent fools on the other side!"

"Hehe, so you've even got some of the taste of the action while down here, Mayuri?" Kenpachi chimed in. He always viewed Mayuri as a guy not into fighting, seeing as how he was always in his laboratory researching and experimenting all the time.

"Of course, what the hell did you expect?! Apollo Szyael Grantz will no longer have any need for any of his experiments in the place and time he's in right now..." Mayuri flashed a big creepy grin over to Kenpachi. Kenpachi just raised his eyebrow in approval. Mayuri pointed for Nemu to follow as he stepped through to the other side as well. Byakuya, Unohana and Kenpachi started to walk and passed through together.

With it only being Ichigo, Chad, Rukia and Orihime left, Rukia began to feel uncomfortable in the same vicinity as Orihime. It wasn't like she didn't want Ichigo to hug her but he definately could've chosen a better time to do it. She wanted to get away as soon as possible so she decided to go next. Ichigo was right behind her, and Orihime and Chad followed suit. Time seemed to be going slower for some reason, at least that's how it felt to Rukia as she got closer. Suddenly, Orihime screamed.

"Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san! Watch out!"

Ichigo looked around just in time to see a huge green wave of energy hurtling towards himself and Rukia. He grabbed Rukia and shunpo'd just in time as the blast sizzled the spot on the sand they were once standing. By the time he landed a couple of feet away, he was already in his bankai form again. He knew to whom that color of cero belonged to...

Ichigo looked back into the enraged eyes of Ulquiorra Schiffer once again...

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A/U: So, how did you like? It was longer than I thought it was gonna be but I'm satisfied with it. How did you like the little comedy i added into it? I want to see if I'm any good at that..well, hope to see some reviews!


	4. Chapter 4 Free Reign

This chapter should start a few things off..lol hope u enjoy. and I'm going to try something new to liven up the style..

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Chapter 4- Free Reign

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_Death blocks their long awaited escape_

_Only one has the chance to tear everyone away from his grasp!_

_But at the risk of paying the price?_

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Ulquiorra Schiffer had returned from his imprisonment and he looked as if he was ready to make everyone pay. Although his facial expression was still just as unreadable, with his eyelids halfway covering his intense green eyes and lips as straight as his posture. His spiritual pressure, however, was anything but. It weighed down on all of Ichigo's group as if he was placing his entire body weight on each of their shoulders. Rukia felt as if she was about to crumple right in Ichigo's arms, her breathing ragged with every one taken. Ichigo himself was having a hard time keeping his breathing even, with the dense air rushing at him but he was still standing. Orihime fell down to her hands and knees and Chad was down on one knee, sweat forming on his brow.

"Ulquiorra..." Ichigo breathed out. This had to be the worst time for him to appear again. He remembered what had happened the last time he tried to take him on, and it was only two or three hours ago. With their help already through the Garganta, it seemed he'd have to risk it all again if he wanted his friends to have any chance of getting out of there alive. He swore to himself. They had only just met each other again...

"I must applaude you, Kurosaki Ichigo. You've somehow managed to prove me wrong. Not only did you not run away when I specifically warned you to, and I thought you would heed my advice, you've also managed to get your hands on that woman. You have proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that Aizen was correct in fretting over you as a threat. But, that is all, Kurosaki Ichigo. A threat. Do not mistaken such compliments as a chance for you to actually stop Aizen-sama. It ends now...I'll tell you once. Hand the woman over to me." It may have been a trick of his mannerisms, but Ichigo could've sworn for a split second, there was longing in Ulquiorra's demand. The way he had pointed at Orihime seemed to proclaim stake in his property. He quickly waved this notion out of his mind and grimaced. He had to get Rukia's attention without Ulquiorra realizing it. Or his newly formed idea would fall before he even thought it all out.

"Rukia..." Ichigo whispered out of the corner of his mouth. She looked slowly up at him, giving him the sign that she had heard.

"And if you do not comply, I will definately kill you this time." Ulquiorra promised.

"When I say so, I want you to run and make sure Orihime and Chad follow you through the portal. I'll distract him for you guys..." Ichigo knew he would probably have to throw all he had at Ulquiorra to distract him for the plan to succeed. He felt stronger than before but he wasn't sure if that was enough to beat him.

"Ichigo..no..." Rukia felt tears stinging the back of her eyes as she buried her head in his chest. "Don't do it...He's too strong..." She felt she had to argue every point she could think of to stop him from going through with it. "You might not survive.."

"Rukia!" He replied firmly, but as quietly as he could. "Please don't argue right now, there's no time..No other way..He'll catch on..When I let you go, take off as fast as you can and don't look back. I'll charge at him..."

"Are you planning on ignoring me? I'm allowing you an easy escape out of this situation. Hand over Orihime Inuoe, and you may leave with your lives intact. That simple." Ulquiorra was staring over at Orihime, whom looked at the ground as if in shame.

"You bastard..." Ichigo knew he most likely couldn't trust him. He could easily just kill them all once Orihime was out of his firing range. And plus, he would never allow Orihime to be taken again after all the hard work everyone went through to rescue her in the first place. It would be a horrible fate if they could get so close only to be dragged away at the last second.

"Ichigo!" Without warning, Chad had somehow found the strength to launch himself in front of Ichigo, towards Ulquiorra, his Devil's Arm and Shield quickly forming.

"Chad, no!" Ichigo didn't have time to stop him though. When Chad got to within an inch from him, Ulquiorra had thrusted his fist out of his pocket so fast, Ichigo, Rukia and Orihime had only seen Chad come flying back past them and through the Garganta behind them, Ulquiorra placing his hand back in his pocket without it being seen. Orihime whimpered softly as she looked back at the portal, where Chad had disappeared through.

"Fool. Did he really think he had a chance to reach me? At least he made it out of here. He scarcely belonged in the first place.." Ulquiorra began to mock.

Although Ichigo was dreading that Chad was handled so easily, he realized this was the perfect time, if any, to throw his plan into action. He quickly placed Rukia on her feet and she began to run for her life towards Orihime and grabbed her hand. As they galloped towards the Garganta, all they heard was Ichigo cry out and an explosion rock the ground below them. She willed every temptation to look back away from her mind. She wouldn't have been able to run anymore if that explosion didn't bode well for Ichigo. Inoue was crying and yelling out, causing her ability to run to falter. Rukia had enough adrenaline running through her to run for the both of them however.

Right before Rukia could make it to the portal, she felt a tug on the hand that held Orihime's. She accidently let go and when she looked back, she saw the look of fear in Inoue's eyes as she sensed a man with long hair behind her holding her back. Before she could get a good look at her new captor, they both disappeared on the spot and she tripped into the Garganta, leaving Orihime behind.

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Ichigo had charged at Ulquiorra at full speed, his hollow mask forming on his face in mid-flight. Ulquiorra just stared wide-eyed at the chaos that had suddenly broke loose in front of him. He barely had enough time to hear the words that Ichigo was screaming out.

"Getsuga...TENSHOU!" Ichigo waved his sword around and as he got the closest to him, a large blast escaped the tip of his thin zanpaktou into Ulquiorra. He raised both of his hands in an attempt to hold the vicious attack back at the last moment. But just as before, the energy wave ultimately consumed him, filling every pore with intense pain. After the attack had completed, Ichigo stood back, gasping for air. He felt he really had put almost all of his strength in that one. He waited for the dust to settle to witness how much success he had in damaging Ulquiorra.

Through the smoke, Ichigo saw his figure kneeling on the ground. It seemed that he had done his job better than he thought possible. The smoke cleared completely and he could see blood coming down from Ulquiorra's mask covering the left side of his face. "Ah, it seems..you've grown a lot stronger in the little amount of time since the last we've met, Kurosaki Ichigo. Or was it just the closer distance of the attack that made it feel that much stronger...Either way, I can still stand. For your sake, that better not have been the peak of your new strength." Ulquiorra stood up a little shakily but stood upright again.

'Damnit!' Ichigo cursed to himself. 'How can he still be standing? I could've sworn I felt that move cause a lot more damage than that! He's bleeding a lot but...'

"No, it's not, you bastard!" He couldn't stand knowing that his best still wasn't enough to damage him as much as he thought he could. He began to scream in rage as he raced toward Ulquiorra again.

Ulquiorra granted him at least the liberty of having to pull out his own blade to block his attack this time. This didn't stop Ichigo, as he pulled his blade back and struck again. Ulquiorra's feet was being dragged backwards through the sand while he moved his sword according to Ichigo's erratic movements.

With each swing, Ichigo felt another piece of his calm slipping from him. He didn't know why he was getting _this_ angry. Sure, he and his friends had come so close to finally leaving for home after the hell they had been through when Ulquiorra stopped them again. He had the right to be furious. But this type of anger was dangerous. It felt like he was close to reaching the anger that you couldn't return from. His heart screamed out for the blood of the Espada in front of him, the hunger overtaking the entire fiber of his being. He began to shake in anticipation of finally cutting through his defenses. A shunpo later, Ichigo was behind Ulquiorra, and he swung his zanpaktou with all his might. Ichigo smirked as more blood splattered from his opponents shoulder.

Something inside of him seemed to have snapped completely at this point.

_That's it, Ichigo! You can smell it can't you?!_ A shrill voice could be heard in Ichigo's mind. _Just a little more! Hahahahaha! You're almost there! More, more, more! It's almost time for me to take over again, I can feel it! I've lent you my power this whole time, it's time for you to repay me now!_

Ulquiorra was beginning to sense something completely different in Ichigo. He was powerful before but now, it was unbelievable. He had felt his power steadily increasing even though he should've been getting tired from all the force he was exausting against his own sword. Suddenly, Ichigo had finally stopped his offense. Ulquiorra looked on in curiosity to see what was with the change of action, grabbing his shoulder to ease the bleeding.

A crazed look replaced the steady growl that usually decorated the face of his hollow mask. No trace of the former Ichigo remained familiar on his body as a new entity grinned out on Ulquiorra.

"Hello, Espada! We've met indirectly but it's finally nice to see each other formally!" Ichigo's hollow shrilled, laughing maniacally as Ulquiorra looked on with his eyes wide.

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_The new face of a 'hero' has appeared at last!_

_Will an Ulquiorra unreleased be able to take on this familiar new threat?_

_Has Ichigo left for good?_

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A/U: Ok, things seemed to have picked up very fast I'd say! lol I hope you like the new style, the intro and the ending i mean. Reviews will make me want to update faster lol. hope you liked the little twist


	5. Chapter 5 Recaptured

Once again I don't own Bleach

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Chapter 5- Recaptured

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_Once believed rescued, his face appears before her again!_

_She falls to her knees, her mind cracking, nearly broken_

_Final plans put into motion?_

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Orihime stood, trembling, before her newest captor. His dark, shoulder-length hair waved behind him as he flicked it with his free hand, his other still on her shoulder. He then rubbed his fingers over his goatee as if contemplating on what to do next. Orihime looked on with concern, nervous to find out what his intentions were going to be.

"You appear to be a little confused, my sweet. Let me help you out by introducing myself. The name's Stark and I do apologize for such a rude approach to commence our first meeting! I was under strict orders you see..." Upon seeing no change in expression from Orihime, he continued. "It just wouldn't do to let our precious sun set so soon, with everything starting to come together so well for his plans. So relax..It'll all soon become clear to you, how you're the key to light the world to the right path once again. You'll see." Although these words were spoken with strength and genuity, his expression wasn't showing off any of the proper signs of it. It reeked of complacency, as if it would be the best idea in the world to just lay down and sleep for hours on end. To Orihime, this demeanor helped make him seem like a decent guy. Someone she could somehow trust just a little. But those thoughts were soon put to rest.

"U..uh..." Orihime started but a sudden heavy feeling made her stop. It was a powerful, familiar reiatsu that made her hair stand on end, she felt sharp daggers on each and every inch of her body. Her heart felt heavy and her body felt like crumpling to the ground. She looked behind her to find an ex-captain of Soul Society sitting in a throne-like chair and his two assistants standing behind him, watching everything in silence. Aizen smiled charmingly at Orihime.

"Welcome home, Orihime! We nearly lost our chance to see you again, if Stark had been any later, I was afraid that I wouldn't have even been able to give you my final farewell..." Aizen smirked as Orihime was gasping for any words to come out of her mouth. She seemed to be still coming to the realization that she was right back where she started again. "But, do not worry. You've made it back just in time! I wouldn't want you to miss what happens next..." He raised his head from his fist as a huge screen flashed on behind the three men. A city with large buildings was displayed, easily recognizable by Orihime. "Yes. Karakura Town. It is said to awaken the power to create another King's Key, the accumulation of high spirit energy at a fast rate is required. Which location would turn out to be the best place for this other than your hometown Orihime? A town in which has produced such high spiritual powered individuals such as yourself and your precious nakama? Especially Ichigo Kurosaki..."

The young woman squinted her eyes at the mention of her friends. Aizen stood up from his throne. "Your friends were foolish, my dear Orihime! I've heard that the Soul Society tried to tell Kurosaki that it'd be best to leave you here but he couldn't have that! He and his friends had to risk everything to rescue you, even if it seemed that you didn't want to be rescued. Now that he's received his wish, they have left their home wide open for attack. Sure, there are still a couple of nuisances around to cause problems but I've sent a couple of my greatest to handle them..."

Now on the screen, a man wearing a green and white hat and sandals is shown sweeping the ground around his shop with a cat perched on top of an overturned barrel watching intently. Suddenly someone stepped up from behind them, causing them to turn to look at their unannounced visitor. The newcomer's skirt was the only viewable asset to the viewer's perspective however. The scene switches over to a father and his two daughters having dinner, laughing with each other as there's a knock at the door. The father goes to answer it but is quickly taken from the front stoop by an old man with a long white beard. The two girls run to the door but are too late, screaming out for their dad.

Orihime looked down at the ground at seeing what was transpiring. Aizen looked at her, with a worried look on his face. "What's wrong, Orihime? Why are you frowning? You've pledged your desires for my bidding, you should be happy. You're our sun, the sun cannot frown as it lights everything around her or else she wouldn't be doing her job properly..." Aizen walked over to her and bent down so his face was inches away from her's. Orihime backed away a little, surprised at the sudden affection she was receiving. He placed his hand on her cheek, grinning. "There, you'll be alright after all! Rest in your room for now, your part will soon come, Orihime. Menoly. Loly." The two arrancar bowed deeply as they beckoned for Orihime to follow them.

Aizen walked back to his throne and sat down. "Now, Stark, you may or may not be up to it but as I've mentioned before, there is another threat that I've recently heard of. You know who and where they are. The plan still stands...I place my trust in your abilities to take them out..."

"Yes, Aizen-sama! There will not be any left after I'm done with them!" Stark took a bow as he disappeared from Hueco Mundo entirely.

Gin stirred from the right of Aizen. "Hmm, you do know that she hasn't really pledged her allegiance to you entirely, right? I mean, you did see her almost leave with the Ryoka just a few minutes ago."

Orihime had reached her room, trying to hide her tears brimming from behind her eyes from her two escorts.

"Yes, I noticed, Gin. I know she wasn't on my side from the beginning but maybe after seeing those two embrace like that along with being here again has awakened a need for deep affection. I'm going to show her that affection, help her realize that there is a path to happiness for her..." Aizen replied.

The orange-haired girl dropped to her hands and knees as soon as Menoly and Loly left and let her pent up emotion escape finally. She pounded the ground with her fists in frustration. "Why? Why am I feeling like this?" She was becoming hysterical.

Gin smirked widely. "My, you do have a soft spot for her it seems! You love to play your games, don't you?

Aizen laid back in his seat and placed his head back on his fist, enjoying what was being played out on the screen in front of him. "I wouldn't have it any other way...Gin!"

Tousen looked on, studying each word spoken from everyone.

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Renji, Ishida and the rest of the group that had come through the Garganta first were attending to Chad, whom had come flying through the portal and crashed into a nearby building in the Sereitei a few minutes earlier, when Rukia came tumbling through herself. Renji quickly ran over to her to check on her.

"Rukia! What's happened over there?! Where's Ichigo? He was right behind you wasn't he?" Renji bombarded her with questions. Rukia knocked some of the dust from the ground from her hair with the palms of her hands. When she didn't answer immediately, he shook her a little. "Rukia!"

"H-he's fighting...We were almost o-out of there...Then he came from nowhere and attacked us..." She seemed to be too shaken to make complete sense to Renji.

"Who? Who attacked you?" Renji asked. He was really worried about the quick downhill track their escape attempt had started on. He was going to invite everyone to a much deserved drink to calm their nerves but something like this happens. When would they ever catch a break?

"I-Ichigo somehow knew him..I think he said his name...It was Ulquiorra! He was so powerful! I-I could barely breath..His shirt was torn a little and I could see the number four written on his chest..." This bit of news took everyone back a little.

"Impossible! The Espada I fought was number five and Ichigo was having a little trouble with him when I stepped in! How is he going to stand up to an Espada that's even stronger than that?" Kenpachi spoke up.

"I...don't know.." Rukia raised her knees up to her chin. "He just told me to run and take Inuoe with me. He's still back there, hopefully still fighting..." She just wanted to be left alone for the moment. She didn't know if she could take answering any more questions from any of her friends.

"Orihime? But, where is she?" Ishida walked up from behind. "She wasn't with you when you came through."

Tears stung the back of her eyes again. "Someone took her again! We were inches from freedom and someone with long hair snatched her out of my hand at the very last second! They were gone before I could do anything..." She hated herself for letting her go.

"Damn! So, all the fighting, near deaths..were for nothing? We're right back at square one and, even though I hate to admit it, we might even lose our best fighter at the same time? It all feels like a waste of time!" Ishida cried out.

"Calm down, Uryuu! It's not completely over yet. Ichigo's conquered nearly impossible odds before, don't lose your faith in him..." Renji tried to make the situation seem better. Even though he semi-agreed with Ishida himself. Rukia hugged tighter to her knees.

"He better not die before we have our rematch!" Kenpachi said.

"Please, come back safe to us, Ichigo..We still need your help!" Rukia finally stopped forcing her tears back and allowed them to flow freely down her cheek, Renji placing a hand on her shoulder to help ease the pain. Everyone else stood looking up into the sky, waiting expectantly for any sign of the orange-haired shinigami.

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Back in Hueco Mundo, the hollow in Ichigo was staring down at a kneeling Ulquiorra, who was now bleeding profusely from his entire body. Hollow Ichigo had a menacing smile on his face, savoring each strike he was inflicting on his prey. As always, he couldn't understand how Ichigo couldn't use the abundant power trapped within him to just destroy everyone that got in his way. It was like he was scared to use it at all. Well, now that he was in control of the shinigami's body, he was going to make sure every ounce of it was going to be used.

"What's wrong, Espada? Why aren't you releasing your true form? I know this isn't the greatest extent of your ability! You still feel that I'm beneath a glimpse of that kind of power? Hmmph, don't make me me laugh! We're actually quite similar, you and I! So, you know I will kill you if you don't go all out with me!" Hollow Ichigo challenged. He was licking his lips in anticipation of Ulquiorra's next move.

"How..dare you..Just who the hell are you? How did you become so strong?" Ulquiorra was gasping for air. He thought back on how this new enemy dodged every attack he delivered, every slash parried and given back to him in an instant. Just a couple of hours ago, he could block Ichigo's attacks with one hand. When did everything turn around this much?

"There's no need for you to worry about all of that, really! Just worry about killing me and surviving this fight! I'm not here to tell you my life story, I just want to kill you! You got that?!" Hollow Ichigo wanted to get that message through to his head immediately.

"I see. Then, that leaves me no choice. I'm afraid it's time to put an end to your silly illusions of victory." Ulquiorra raised his blade to his side, ready to release his sealed power.

"That's it! Call it out! Let's see who can last the longest between us...Between two Vasto Lordes!" Hollow Ichigo screamed with laughter of delight.

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_Everyone's last hope could be approaching his last hour_

_Ulquiorra prepares to unleash his sealed power_

_Hollow Ichigo's confidence brims on the brink of insanity!_

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A/U: I don't know..I feel it's a little rushed. how do you like it? I just wanted the ending with Ichigo and Ulquiorra to be the official introduction of their fight. Nothin more really. How did you like the little twist at the end tho? lol


	6. Chapter 6 Speed of the Cheetah

Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo, not me. I can picture the remix of the song 'Stupefy' by Disturbed playing during this battle. lol It's intense I thing. I have been thinking of something for Ulquiorra..tell me what you think of what happens with him of course. I don't know about it...

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Chapter 6- Speed of the Cheetah; Falcon Swoops

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_"For his own sake, Ichigo better hope you don't last that long_

_Cuz if I take complete control, it's up to me to give it back!"_

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Hollow Ichigo stood smiling while Ulquiorra, with blood still trickling down his cheek, raised his sword to his side, until it was to the length of his shoulder.

It was a good thing Ichigo, while he was still normal, had told Rukia to take Orihime and get out of Hueco Mundo while they still could because with the amount of reiatsu defecating the entire atmosphere around them at this point, they probably would have suffocated. The sand beneath their feet, just like when Ulquiorra had shot his Cero at him and Rukia, began sizzling. Grains were escaping from their resting place on the ground and incinerating inches above it. The air in front of both warriors' peripheral vision was a little hazy but nowhere as blurry so as they couldn't see straight. The Garganta was still circling in place in the spot about twenty feet away from where they had began their battle.

"Prepare yourself, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ulquiorra bent his knees and placed his other hand out of his pocket and closer to the ground on his opposite side. Hollow Ichigo just looked on with a displeased smirk on his face.

"I've been ready for you to attack for a while now...Maybe it is a good thing you're taking your time, I have all day to fight out here. I don't know about dear Ichigo though...Who I am NOT by the way, so stop fucking calling me by that name!" His temper threatened to blow over again. Ulquiorra was unfazed however.

"So, I was correct in my assumptions. I've always sensed Kurosaki's reiatsu fluctuating from an incredible density, perhaps even greater than my own, to miniscule trash. I take it that you're the reason it always bulged to unfathomable proportions at the most opportune of times." Ulquiorra wanted to make sure he had a hold on the situation occurring before him.

"Who the hell cares about assumptions! You're seeing me now, aren't you? As I've said before, it doesn't matter who I am, I just want the chance to kill y---" Hollow Ichigo froze in mid-sentence, however. Ulquiorra had vanished from in front of him and Hichigo lost track of him completely. In an instant, however, he saw something in the corner of his eye coming towards him. Before he could do anything, Hichigo was punched and thrusted backwards into the ground causing huge geysers of sand to spray into the sky. The grimacing inner hollow buried his feet into the ground to skid to a halt a few more feet away. "What the hell? I could barely see..."

"My intention all along was to give you that chance, you insolent beast." Ulquiorra replied cooly. Hichigo glared holes into Ulquiorra but not for long as he disappeared once again, only to reappear right beside him to kick him into the air again. "I believe you said you wanted to take a look at my release earlier during your bantering. I've come to the conclusion that you are indeed a great enough threat to show you a glimpse of it." Ulquiorra's expression changed strangely, beginning to look insanely predatorial as he bared his teeth in a snarl. His eyes still had the same cold stare however. "Give chase to the prey, Gran Rey del Guepardo!"

Ulquiorra raced to beside Hichigo's flying body, his hair now trailing down his neck, sticking on end in anticipation of his next strike. The hollow portion that was on the left side of his skull had shrunken upwards and was now covering both sides of his face. So it looked as if he had two ears perked up at top as horns. He swung his blade down at Hichigo, whom pulled his own blade in front of him just in time to block most of the force. His body was still pushed back away from Ulquiorra at a great velocity, finally stopping at about twenty feet away.

"So, how do you like it, beast? You seem to be having problems keeping up with my movements.." Ulquiorra's eyes seemed to be a brighter green as he bore into Hichigo's intense yellow pupils.

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"Get your grubby hands off of it, old man!" A young girl with black, neck-length hair slammed her fork into the last remaining boiled potato in the plate in the middle of the table.

"What do you mean! My fork is the one obviously touching it, not my hand! It's all mine!" A man with a scraggily beard and wearing a red button-up shirt with black pants screamed back at her. He pounded the table with his hand and got closer to her.

"As if you can't see, my fork is in it too! I'm your child, you shouldn't be so greedy as to deprive your daughter of such filling food!" She returned the pound on the table and came to within an inch of her father's spitting face.

"What? Don't give me that! You've been stuffing your face all night, give everyone else a chance to have their fill, little piggy!" He exclaimed. He put his thumb on his nose and pulled it back, making the face of a pig as the girl began to steam. "Besides, my fork-draw was the quickest, I beat you fair and square!" They began pushing against each other, a tug of war ensuing with the potato going back and forth between them.

A short, brown haired girl just sat back in her seat watching the battle commence. "You guys! Why don't you just split it in half if it's that big of a deal!" They didn't hear her, or just ignored her as they continued pushing at each other's face. She was normally a patient girl but certain recent events had shortened her patience quite a bit. Before she realized what she was doing, she yelled. "Will you guys just please stop it!" This got their attention quickly. The black haired girl and her father looked at each other with confused expressions.

"Y-Yuzu? What's the matter?" Yuzu's sister asked apprehensively. She had never seen her lose her temper like that before. Yuzu looked down, as she scratched the corner of her lip.

"I'm..sorry, Karin...It's just that, brother hasn't been home for a while and I can't see how we can have a normal dinner without him..." She felt ashamed that she wasn't joining in on the fun with her sister and father but this had been bothering her for a while. Karin reached her hand over to her's and held it comfortingly.

"Don't you worry about him, Yuzu. Ichigo's a big boy now. I'm sure he can take care of himself wherever he is! He'll come back to us soon!" Even though Karin always played the tough girl between the two, she couldn't stand to see her sister sad like this.

"Yea, why are you worried about a jerk like him for anyway? You know him, he'd tell you to butt out and worry only about taking care of me and Karin for him anyways! He was always an ass like that!" Isshin thought he was speaking great words of comfort, but the reaction he received told him otherwise.

"Ichigo is not a jerk! He's just really protective! He just wants to make sure we're all safe!" Yuzu put her face in her hands in distress. Karin gave her father an unfathomable look, as if to ask why did he have to open his mouth at all. He just shrugged his shoulders, wondering what he had said to cause any of this.

"Ignore mush for brains, Yuzu! But Ichigo _would _tell you not to worry about him. He told us he'd be back soon, and has he disappointed us yet? He'll be back for us to get under his skin all we want in no time, I bet!" Karin smiled at her twin sister. As she senses that she's calmed down a bit, she turns her attention toward the plate. To her surprise, it was empty. "Hey! What happened?"

"Eh? What are you talking about Karin? What happened?" Isshin looked at her questioningly.

"You know just what I'm talking about! While your daughter was crying and worrying, you decide to sneak the last potato for yourself!" Karin pointed at her father accusingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about! There is no potato!" Isshin looked down at the empty plate.

"That's the point! It's not there because it's inside your greedy ass!" She threw her fork down on her plate and crossed her arms angrily. Isshin just chuckled to himself.

"I told you that I beat you to it!" He beat his chest proudly.

"And you call yourself a father!" Yuzu suddenly burst into laughter at the exchanges between the two of them. Isshin laughed while pointing at Karin tauntingly.

All the laughter had almost drowned out the sound of the doorbell ringing. Isshin got up from his seat and while still grunting a little, reached for the doorknob. As it opened, an old looking man with a long gray beard reached his hand through the door and grabbed him by the shirt.

"Come with me!" The old man's rough voice called out. Before Isshin realized what was going on, he was dragged quickly through the front door and through the air along with the stranger. Yuzu and Karin ran over to the front door.

"DAD!" The two girls called out for their father but they had two different reactions. Karin had seen the old man come from nowhere and grabbed her dad. Yuzu had just seen him mysteriously fly up into the sky. Either way, they were at a lost on how they were going to get any sort of help for him in a situation like this.

No one would believe that their father had been abducted by a flying, old man.

-------------------------------------------

A/U: I know there should've been more in this chapter but I'm tired right now. About Ulquiorra and Ichigo, I hope I'm not the only one that realize the similarities between Ulq and a cheetah..I mean, I've heard a few theories on that but I just think his release has something to do with a cheetah..btw, Gran Rey del Guepardo Great Cheetah King in spanish..

How did you like the chapter?


	7. Chapter 7 The Three Revelations

A/U: I made a mistake in the last chapter in the description of the old man..He doesn't have a gray beard, he has a thick mustache and eyebrows and wears a crown..so yea, I mistook his features. sorry about that. In this one, I might switch scenes a lot but I want to create a certain effect..u'll see. gonna be a long chapter

Bleach does not belong to me..

--

Chapter 7- The Three Revelations

--

_The rest of the cast is finally revealed!_

_But knowing their names and rankings alone will not yield the destruction._

_How will they be stopped_

_--_

Isshin landed hard on his lower back and kept rolling backwards until he stopped himself on his hands and knees. His red shirt had been ripped from the rocks hidden within the blades of grass of the park he had been dropped into. As he put his hand over the area the rocks stabbed him to feel the scratches that remained, he felt a presence appear directly above him and had to dive out of the way from the incoming enemy. With debris from the ground flying through the air, Isshin guided his body so that the mounds of dirt flew above and below him, narrowly missing burying him whole. Slowly he raised his eyes toward his aggressor as he stands up from the newly formed crater.

The thick-moustached old man slowly brought his fist from the ground to his side as he grunted. He had thought for sure he would've made a direct hit, seeing as how Isshin was still in his human form. He shrugged it off as pure luck however. "You are the one they call Kurosaki Isshin, are you not?"

Isshin rubbed the back of his head as he got up to his feet shakily. He looked unfamiliar with a serious expression on his face. "This is simply unbelievable..You invade my home and take me away from my kids with such hostility and you're not even sure who I am? I don't know what your plans or even whoever the hell you are exactly but you're not leaving an impressive impression of being a wise old man..."

The old man just smiled underneath his moustache, teeth bared. He removed the fur from his jacket as Isshin stared in shock at the tattoo carved on his neck. "My name is Barragan. And I am..."

--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

A blond, short-haired young man sat on a cliff, staring stony faced at his fellow comrades training with each other on the field underneath their hideout. A force-field had been set up around a barn-like building so only ones who were welcome within their clan could find where they were. The young man's frown appeared to be deeper than ever and the look in his eyes betrayed one out of focus of everything going on around him. One leg was brought up to his chin, his left arm wrapped around it. Suddenly something hit the back of his head. Hard.

"Owww! What the hell?!" His eyes nearly bulged out of the sockets from the force of the hit. He turned around to be face to face with a freckled, blonde girl with a scrunchie tying her hair in the back. She glared at him, daring him to do something about what she had done. "Hiyori! What was that for?"

"Stop staring into space like that, Shinji! I know it's a habit for you to have such a stupid look on your face but it gets annoying after a while!" She demanded. Shinji glared back at her in response. Then he stared off into the distance again.

"When did you get back? I thought you just left to get something to eat for the rest of the guys.." Shinji asked.

"Yea, well, the market isn't that far from here you know. It wasn't like I had to look for a long time. What's with you all of a sudden anyways? Why aren't you with the rest of them, fighting as usual?" Hiyori took a seat beside him, swinging her legs against the front side of the cliff. Even though she always called him an idiot and a good for nothing, she knew that their group looked to him as somewhat of a leader because of his strength and his desire of helping all of them show as much improvement as they could. It was strange seeing him on the sidelines.

"I've just had a lot of things on my mind lately. You know, from our past. How it could come back and catch up with us in the near future..." Shinji sighed. "It's not like I'm scared or anything but I am a little nervous that things could get very hectic for us very soon..." Hiyori looked at him quizzically.

"What are you getting at? It's like that for everyone nowadays isn't it? There's a war going on...No matter how much we try to stay out of it, it's inevitable to draw us in sooner or later. We're probably even more suspected now that Ichigo's gone on the offensive against Las Noches. Showing off that mask of his..." Hiyori said. She fought against Ichigo the most, so she knew how much he was starting to rely on his mask.

"Yea, that's the point. He got most of his ideas from us back then in the first place. He knew how powerful these masks made us so he formulated a plot to take over the world using what we started along with Kisuke Urahara. So, it's more of a problem for us than everyone else. We basically started this whole fiasco...Seeing another warrior in Ichigo with so much control of his hollow powers can only whet his appetite even more for our heads." The hate for himself oozed out of the tone of his voice. Hiyori glared at him.

"First of all, NONE of this war shit is our fault! That's the way I see it and screw anybody else in Soul Society saying otherwise! Yea, maybe we broke a taboo in Soul Society when we experimented to make all of our comrades stronger against the hollow but we did not just hand over our secrets to Aizen and tell him to betray everyone! Maybe we could've shown a good side to the hollows if it hadn't been for him proving Yamamoto right in thinking we were fools in thinking of the impossible...So if you blame anyone, it's obviously Aizen that you should be blaming, not you or any of us!"

"Yea, yea, yea..I know that, shrimp..It's still easier just to take the blame..." Hiyori nodded as she closed her eyes. She began to stand back up and lifted her leg behind her, preparing to make contact with Shinji's backside.

"Which brings me to my second point." She kicked him as hard as she could, Shinji flying down toward the ground screaming all the way. "If you feel so damn guilty, then get out there and work on releasing all of it you gutless bastard!" The hard landing on the ground received everyone's attention from the training grounds. A short gray-haired man was the first to reach the fallen Shinji.

"What's happened? How did you end up so beaten up, Shinji?" Kensei Muguruma asked. He then looked up in the direction his comrade had fallen from and comprehension seemed to dawn on his face. "Ahh, Hiyori.." Shinji's vein in his temple began to throb.

"Hey! Why do you say it like it's an understandable reason that I'm on the ground bleeding?!" Shinji spat at Kensei. The others had caught up with him and was looking at Shinji's bruise.

"Wow, that's a doosie...How did you get that one, eh? Hahahaha!" A small, ditzy green-haired girl inquired. Mashiro looked sort of like a child playing dress up, with a white body suit and long green boots and goggles placed on the top of her hair. She bent down and placed her hands on her knees, laughing deeply at Shinji.

"Look up there guys and all of your questions will be answered!" Kensei pointed to his right up at the cliff on which Hiyori still stood, glaring down at Shinji. The rest of the group caught on quickly. They all started guffawing loudly at Shinji's expense. Even the ever-gentle Hachi was giggling. The blond male felt as if he could've taken them all out then and there on the spot.

"There's no reason for you all to be catching on to anything! All he did was point at that midget up there! I just tripped ok!" This just erupted more laughter from his friends.

"What did you do, Shinji, trip over a boulder at full speed? I mean, you fell a long ways there, man!" A man wearing sunglasses and sporting a spiky afro jabbed. After seeing Shinji point his nose in the air in defiance, Love Aigawa added, "C'mon! We all know who wears the pants, Shinji!"

"W-what the hell are you talking about?! Ain't nobody talking about no damn pants! Or who wears any..." Shinji fumbled at the end of this sentence. The rest looked as if they were about to burst into laughter again. He rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean, you bastards!"

Lisa Yadomaru pushed her glasses up to the tip of her nose and Rose was clapping his hands in his frilly shirt as if he had just witnessed a fine scene from an opera. "You seem to be as goofy as ever, Shinji!" Lisa said.

"I'm not goofy..." Shinji retorted.

"I did not mean that in a bad way. It's funny!" Lisa grinned.

"Yea, well if anything from Hiyori's mindless drabble made any sense, it was that I shouldn't be walloping in self-pity all of the time. I can't be regretting the past when we still have the future to make certain we don't destroy. From here on out, we're going all out to pave the way of great fortune for all of us! No matter which side meets that end for us, we will make the best decision for our survival!" Shinji rallied. It seemed to do a great job in pumping up his friends.

"Yea!" Each pumped their fist into the air in a war cry. Even Hiyori, whom was still standing on the cliff she had kicked Shinji off of. "Hey, Hiy..o..ri..." A loud explosion from the entrance to their facility caused Shinji to cut off suddenly. All of the them got into their battle stances immediately. Kensei called forth his shikai, shrinking his zanpakto to the size of a hunting knife, energy sparkling at the tip ready to be released. Rose began to jump from one foot to the other, preparing to dodge anything that could head his way. Machiro was growling with her arms wound behind her back, her zanpakto held reverse in her right hand. The rest had their fists posed in a boxing manner.

As the dust settled, two figures began to form their complete silhouettes for them to see. They could tell the taller of the two was looking around at his surroundings, admiring the hideout he had worked to find. The shorter silhouette was female and she had her hands on her sides. Shinji glared up at Hiyori. "Hiyori, you were followed?!" He didn't wait for an answer as he jumped over to in front of the newcomer. "Who are you? How the hell did you find us?" Shinji bombarded him with questions.

"Whoa, whoa, one question at a time buddy! I'm not up to having to remember each individual one.." A man with a goatee and a bottom jaw that resembled a necklace smirked. "First, I'll introduce the little lady. Her name's Lilinette. Do not mistaken her innocent looks as being weak, I must warn you. I didn't pick her as my fraccion just for the company after all." Lilinette took a curtsey and giggled her welcome. "And as for me..."

The unwelcomed visitor bowed his head and closed his eyes, touching his jawbone necklace. "My name's Stark. And I am..."

--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

"Maybe you should've told Ichigo that before he left, Kisuke!" A black cat sitting on top of a brown barrel scolded a green and white jacket and hat clad man, whom was sweeping the front sidewalk to his store. Urahara looked sideways away from the black cat pointedly.

"You seen how Ichigo was when he wanted me to open that portal to Hueco Mundo for yourself, Yourichi! You know as well as I do that he wouldn't have taken no for an answer! He was gonna go after Inuoe whether I told him that small detail before he left or not..." Urahara tried to explain his side of the story.

"Small?! This isn't just a small detail, Kisuke! This is basically life and death for Ichigo and his friends!" Yourichi glared holes into Urahara. "If they've opened the Garganta for a second time with a non-hollow power, they could be..."

"Relax! I was only kidding when I said it was a small detail. And I really believe that they would not open the Garganta again unless there was a hundred percent chance that they could escape with Inuoe safely intact." Urahara grinned over at the black cat.

"If they have, and it closes before they have the chance to enter, they may never get a chance to come back over to this side ever again...That is, unless they have someone with hollow powers that will be willing to open the gate for them. I doubt Ichigo's hollow will be willing to do that for him, he'd be enjoying the time there I'd bet." Urahara raised his hand onto his hat, lowering it over his eyes even more.

"That I'm aware of, Yourichi. Who knows, though, Ichigo may just have gained a lot more control of his inner demon than we're aware of. You can never count him out of anything." Urahara stated.

A sharp, feminine voice suddenly cut through their conversation, causing both of them to stir a bit violently from their positions. "I wouldn't be quite sure of that really!"

Urahara and Yourichi both turned wide-eyed toward the direction the voice came from. A dark-skinned woman with blonde hair, wearing a skankish jacket and skirt outfit and a short sword sheathed on her back faced them. "He is now in the fight of his life with one whom nearly killed him before by himself as his friends have now left him." The mysterious black woman claimed.

"N-no way...Ichigo's friends would never leave him like that.." Urahara stammered.

"It is true. Kuchiki Rukia, Abarai Renji, Yasutora Sado, Uryu Ishida and the captains that accompanied them have returned to the safety of the Soul Society whilst Kurosaki Ichigo remains in Hueco Mundo surely dying in his fight with an Espada.

Urahara and Yourichi stared dumbfounded at her. She couldn't understand what was so difficult to understand about her words. She knew she spoke clearly and loudly enough for them to hear her. "Are you not going to react to this obviously shocking piece of news? Perhaps you don't care as much as you claim after all..."

"It's not that, at all. We simply do not believe you! How can we believe any words from the mouth of a complete stranger? No matter how much you say otherwise, Ichigo's friends would never abandon him like that..." Urahara refused to believe any of it.

"Hmm, is that all you require for you to believe me? Fine, I'll tell you my name. I'll even tell you my ranking amongst the Espada for you. To show why I should know everything that is going on inside of Hueco Mundo."

She brought the top portion of her jacket covering her neck and cheeks down. Urahara and Yourichi stepped back a little from shock. "Hmm, do I resonate a bit more credibility for you now? My name is Halibel and I am..."

--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

The old man's moustache bristled as laughter escaped through the small mouth that it covered. "Is it that shocking for you, young fellow? Maybe I shouldn't have revealed it so early on! Hahaha! Yes, my name is Barragan and as you can plainly see..." Barragan pointed to his neck, which had a tattoo of the number three emblazoned on it.

"I am Espada Numero Tres. The Third Espada!"

--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

Stark touched his jawbone, which began to change shape as if it was a sensor. It wriggled and curved until a number was formed. It seemed to melt into his skin, marking the number into his skin. "As I've said, her name's Lilinette and she's my Fraccion. I doubt you can handle her, let alone me, Espada Numero Dos! I did not climb to second in rank of the Espada just to lose to the likes of you guys!" Shinji and the others focused their attention on the now darkened tattoo of the number two at the place where the remaining of the Espada hollow mask once resided. "Are you ready to die?"

--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

With her top flap of her jacket now below her neck, it was easy to see the tattoo placed on her left cheek. Her green eyes seemed to become brighter. "Yourichi, as a woman yourself, you should know that a woman has finer features than a man. As you've heard, the more human an arrancar is, the more powerful their powers. This is true of the Vasto Lorde class. I'm confident enough to say that I'm the most human looking of the Espada, which should speak for my power by itself. This is why I am..The First Espada!"

--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

A/U: I hope you liked the way I introduced the rest of the Espada..I know that's probably not gonna be their order in the actual series but you know. And for the Garganta rule, I realized that Ichigo and company was trapped in Hueco Mundo in the manga so I wanted to add that depth of danger to this story as well. how did u like it..?


	8. Chapter 8 The Past Rendezvous

I'm going to take a break from the fighting and describe the past for a little bit..hope u like my version..this may throw everything in a whole other perspective for you lol

One more thing, let me know if the small fight in this chapter confuses anyone..

--xxxxxxxxx--

Chapter 8- The Past Rendezvous 1

--

_Everyone has reasons for their present _

_Good and evil, such reasons give each breath _

_How everything came to be_

_--_

With his glasses pushed up to the brim of his nose, hair bowl-shaped but scraggily over his forehead and slightly slouched posture, it would be easy to picture him as the spokesman for the innocent. Each sentence spoken so politely, each word spoken clearly, everyone seemed to just love to be in his company. From the admirers from the poorer district of the Soul Society, Rukongai, to even some of the elite in the squads of the Gotei 13. His subordinates received nothing but the utmost of respect, even to the lower ranked whom would most likely never produce positive results in their lifetime to their squad.

He had learned from his not so proud past that a simple smile can get you nearly anything you want. A past not so proud because, he too, had come from the same area most of his admirers now resided. He did not lament his unformidable position back then, however, like some of the people he lived with. He did not resort to violence to alleviate his frustrations like the thugs he'd witnessed around him. Instead, he chose to help. If anyone was in need of a helping hand, he would be there to help them out. Gaining trust was very important to him, which is why he'd learned to smile at everyone that he came into contact with. This radiated to everyone else, reflecting the same expression back to him. He had appreciated their gestures then, he really did.

Of course, there were people who wanted to erase that smile from his face. Some came just for that purpose. They wanted to beat him up, take away his dignity. These people, however, he barely even had to lift a finger to stop. He found it amusing himself. Ever since he could remember, he seemed to have a special technique that could grab hold of someone's mind and...Well he wasn't even sure how to explain it actually. He'd just think on how he wanted the intruder to stop his assault when they would go into a trance and go running off in the opposite direction. Or they would just stop and look around, confused. As if they suddenly did not know where they were at all. This left the intruder wide open for any move he chose to take at any time temporarily. He rarely performed any moves though, his goal being just to get them to stop attacking him. The effect only seemed to stay on the person for a few minutes though. It just gave him enough time to get out of certain situations.

Curiosity began to burn the back of his mind on this strange technique of his. What was he doing to these people to get them to seemingly lose complete awareness of their surroundings? He had dreams about a voice calling out to him periodically and after such occurances, he would be able to exert more control over people's minds. He wanted to test what he thought of his power, in which he hypothesized that he was sending out illusions to his victim's minds, out but he didn't think it would be too smart to just pick a random wandering soul and send him off on a fraudulant path with no end. The people around him would get suspicious because of what they had already heard about his abilities. He was very patient for someone his age back then. He'll wait for the time to come to learn more about himself.

Another odd quality of his life that made him curious was the city itself in which he lived. He knew that he had died before he landed in the Soul Society. He'd learned that this was what was supposedly the equivalent of heaven in the teachings of his previous life. Keyword being supposedly. Everyday, he looked around at his surroundings and wondered just how any acre of land under their feet could be considered this heaven he had dreamed of. There weren't really any areas with all green grass, oceans of clear water, or just no plain evidence of being considered a perfect sanctuary. There were rivers dotting the dry land but most were dirty. Granted, being spirits allowed for most people's hunger to go away so they wouldn't have to worry about starvation. But for those, including himself, that still felt the pangs of nutrient depletion were basically tortured everyday from the lack of food to eat.

Being the observant young man he was, he began to notice that everyone that was still hungry had special qualities about them. For instance, some could shoot energy beams from the tips of their fingers or their palms. Some could heal a lot faster than normal, making them very durable. Most had tough skin for better protection from offenders. Whatever ability each soul portrayed, he felt that perhaps they were in training for something far greater than the position they were now in.

A position which was quickly beginning to reveal itself to each and every one of them. In the distance, a large gate could be seen in front of a grand palace with many towers that housed the greatest of Shinigami. Many nights he had stared in awe and envy out of his window positioned towards this tremendous visage. How people can stay in such grandeur while witnessing their citizens' struggles was far beyond his realm of morals. He usually thought of them as haughty jerks who looked down at people like him.

Even though he disliked the idea of the Shinigami, he had heard that every once in a while, they would hold examinations for the people of Rukongai to recruit more people with good to great reaitsu. This, everyone knew, was the only path laid for them to escape the streets that stressed them. That's why he had decided that no matter how much he had envied the Shinigami, he would try his best to become one of them so he could escape his hell hole.

During the opening day of the examinations, one captain from the Gotei 13 itself would visit, possibly to scout out the most probable candidates for the spots in the academy. On this such day, the young man woke up early and ran downstairs into the kitchen where he greeted an older lady washing dishes.

"Oi, Maede, I'm going outside a little early! Gotta get ready for the Captain's appearance!" He made to run out the door but was stopped when the woman called out to him.

"Sousuke! Slow down for a minute and let me wish you luck at least! I fully understand your entusiasm for possibly the beginning of your future but please don't forget me in the process.." She placed both hands on each side of his shoulders and then rubbed his already disheveled hair.

Sousuke did not have a real mother that he remembered. Hardly anyone in the Soul Society had one or a father because of the random placement of their souls after their death in the real world. But he had met a kind woman in Maede one day as a young boy and she had kept watch over him ever since. He held much gratitude towards her for this. She didn't have to but she stood strong just for him. He repaid her kindness with protection from any harm that chose to come her way.

"Sorry, Maede. I'm just anxious..." He gave her a quick hug and continued his walk outside, his robe waving behind him in his haste.

"Good luck, Sousuke! Show them just how great you are!" Sousuke raised his hand over his head, showing his compliance to her encouragement.

As he exited into his front yard, he noticed a crowd already formed along the street on the sidewalk, waiting in anticipation of the day's coming events. His shoulders slumped a little at the sight, as he was hoping to be one of the first out so he could have a great view of the Captain. Rumors were rampant among the streets that the captain to scout them was none other than the Fifth Division captain, Shinji Hirako. He had heard a lot about his achievements and he'd dare say that he looked up to him. There weren't many men that could say that they had his admiration in any form but Captain Hirako had received his respect. He made his way towards the line of people in front of his house.

When he reached them, a horn blared suddenly from his left and he could see a bunch of people dressed in all black robes, face completely covered with a cloth except for the eyes and nose, surrounding a man donning a pure white robe with a sign on the bottom on his backside. The man had long blond hair and a frown that looked as if he had two fingers pressing down on both sides of his lips, only obviously he didn't. His hands were intertwined inside the long arms of his robes and he was walking with strong purpose in each stride. This exihibition really gave off the aura of someone in authority towards the locals.

Sousuke was entranced by the sudden and earlier than expected arrival of the Captain. So much so that he barely heard the commotion happening a few feet away to his right from where he stood. Voices yelling out in protest brought him out of his reverie. Someone was pushed into the street face first, causing an uproar from the people that he pushed out of the way of his path.

"Hey! Watch it, buddy!" A man with short black hair called out as two more people pushed their way through the crowd. They glared down at the fallen man with the fists balled up tight in front of them.

"Get up, now! Why are you cowering now, huh? Get up and fight me like a man, boy!" The bigger of the two agressors commanded the blue-haired boy on the ground. A man stepped up from behind them both.

"Calm down, Rongikai! You're ruining the entrance of the Captain..." He clamped his hand down on the boy's shoulder to bring him back to the sidewalk. But he pulled away from him.

"No! He dares to lead my sister on and nearly kill our brother! I'll make him pay!" The blue-haired boy on the ground couldn't have made an expression farther from guilt or a plea of apology for the surprising accusations. In fact, no one was sure if he even changed his expression at all. A wide grin danced across his lips and his eyes shut so tight, it looked as if he was in glee.

"I don't know what you mean, Rongikai! I know that's not what your sister is thinking right now..." The blue-haired boy replied. He said it in a playful manner it seemed to everyone there.

"How can you sit there and mock the serious crime you've committed against my family, fucker?!" The taller of the pair of boys jumped at him. The situation was starting to get a little out of hand.

Sousuke was viewing this exchange from his position in front of his house. He glanced back at the Captain still walking a little distance away from them. He looked back over to the approaching fight between the three boys with a determined look on his face. He didn't know why but he felt compelled to stop them. The taller boy leaped full speed toward the fallen boy but Sousuke felt himself jump over to in front of the boy in what felt like an instant and made eye contact with the shocked incoming attacker. Sousuke took the punch head on that was intended for the defenseless boy on the ground. It merely just forced his head up towards the sky. He didn't fall to the ground even though it was a pretty powerful punch to begin with.

All of this would've been able to be seen if everyone could see what was actually happening at the moment, however. What the tall boy had felt he was punching, and the witnesses around the fight had knew they had saw him punch, though, was in fact, the blue-haired boy sitting on the ground. The force of the punch sent the ever-grinning boy flying through the air and into a house on the other side of the street. The boy attempted to run into the damaged building to continue the fight but the same man from before pulled him back and this time successfully stopped him.

"That's enough! You've done enough damage for now! None of this is needed at a time like this!" He dragged the boy's struggling body away from the street and back into line on the sidewalk. Back in the street, Sousuke offered the actual blue-haired boy his hand and pulled him up to take him back to where he was standing once before.

"Hmm, I have no idea really on what the hell just happened there and I didn't really need any help but..." The still grinning boy looked over at Sousuke. "Thanks..."

Sousuke smiled. "It was no problem, really! Sometimes it's best to take the quicker route and plus it looked like you needed a hand, so I just took the initiative." He looked back toward the street, on which Captain Hirako had finally made it to their position and appeared to be looking a hole through Sousuke. Sousuke was caught by slight surprise at the expression that he was receiving from him.

"Eh, do you think he saw? I mean, it was in the middle of the street after all...Now, look, because of me, you're going to have an awkward time from now on. You really shouldn't have cut in like that!" The blue-haired boy admonished.

"Don't worry, he couldn't have saw what actually happened. Not with what I used to stop them..." He just received a confused look from his newly acquired partner. He decided to change the subject before he decided to inquire further into what he meant. "By the way, I don't even know your name! Here I am rescuing a complete stranger..."

"Oh, right! My name's Ichimaru Gin. Nice to meet ya. What's your's?" Gin answered.

"The name's...Sousuke Aizen!" Aizen's expression suddenly became serious as he stood eye to eye with Ichimaru Gin.

--

_Their first meeting_

_Shrouded in confusion for everyone else_

_Perhaps a sign for things to come?_

_--_

_--xxxxxxxxxxx--_

A/U: Yea, I know. Most of the stuff in this chapter is probably confusing...Like, why is Aizen being so friendly? How is he pwning everyone at such a young age? lol I know the manga has them already in the academy at the beginning of the flashback but I wanted to go farther in the past than that and for it to be somewhat different from the manga version of course. Let me know how you like my version. This is probably gonna last a few chapters for what i have planned...REVIEW lol


	9. Chapter 9 A Sneak in the Present

A:U: Bleach doesn't belong to me. Let's get into it..One thing, I forgot that the Espada lose their zanpakto when they release so, that's changed in this chapter.

--xxxx--

**Chapter 9- A Sneak into the Present 1 (Unyielding Resolve)**

_--_

_What power!_

_This is why he was reluctant to show it!_

_Hueco Mundo itself is trembling before his might!_

_--_

Hichigo, after getting himself together from his sudden onslaught, smirked at Ulquiorra's question. "How do I like it? You've barely changed at all! Here I was hoping to take down some gigantic beast with enormous power but this is what I'm stuck with..." He wiped away a trickle of blood that was rolling down his chin with the back of his hand and hung his zanpakto over the back of his shoulder. "But I must admit, you're not that far off from what I had in mind when it comes to power.."

Ulquiorra shifted his weight to his left leg as he placed it behind his right and grunted. "I hate beings such as yourself. You judge others based on the miniscule mental capacity you possess and form an ego too heavy for you to hold...That will get you killed." Ulquiorra raised his finger to his chest level, pointing it towards Hichigo. "I will erase all of your troubling ego weighing you down..." A ball of energy began to form on the tip of his finger as Hichigo's eyes widened. A large beam shoots out towards him but he jumps into the sky to dodge it successfully.

However, Ulquiorra seemed to have been predicting this move the entire time, as he uses sonido to appear directly above Hichigo and shoots another large beam of energy, nearly blotting out the entire sky with its density, at his head. Hichigo glides quickly backwards and down towards the ground as he looks around to predict where his deadly rival would appear again. Just as he looks to his left, he moves his body out of the way from an incoming missile of green light so fast, his neck nearly snapped. He raced forward, his grip on the hilt of his sword ever tightening, embracing himself to block any attack that happens to come at him next. As if he was predicting the future, Ulquiorra appeared inches from him and bares his teeth at Hichigo's neck, which in turn met with cold steel as Hichigo used his blade to evade the imminent pain in his neck. He's pushed back towards the ground, forcefully this time, diagonally.

From behind him, Hichigo saw that Ulquiorra was not just blindly shooting at him. As he looked back, he notices that not only was he in danger of crashing head first into the ground, the three Cero blasts that Ulquiorra had shot at him earlier were meeting at one point near the sand, exactly in the spot where Hichigo was going to crash. Hichigo panicks a little at this spectacle but seemingly can do nothing to stop his body from falling towards it. He flips his body around so that his feet is pointed towards the point of landing instead of his head and switched his zanpakto over to his left hand lifting it above his head with his head bowed. He lifts it above his head as he finally enters the point of impact between the three Cero blasts. They engulf him immediately.

Ulquiorra watched on intently as the explosion rocked the entire area of Las Noches violently. Windows from nearby buildings were blown inwards and some walls even caved in on itself from the strength of the vibrations. Huge pillars of smoke emanated from the ground, beckoning for his attention. He glided down to the ground, waiting for any sign of movement from within. After a few seconds, the smoke began to clear. Hichigo appeared, holding his left arm which was now bleeding and mangled.

"Ah, as I've said, one with a miniscule mental capacity. What made you possibly believe that you could block those Cero blasts with one arm? You're making this battle all the more easier for me with all of your careless fearlessness." Ulquiorra calmly marched towards Hichigo with his hands in his pockets again, hair bristling down his neck as tiny gasps of wind from the previous explosion blew through it.

"Bastard...You think you're better than me? I'll teach you to show me a little more respect!" Hichigo glared at Ulquiorra's approaching presence. He stepped forward, grabbed Zangetsu out of the sand, in which it had stabbed into, with his right hand, and matched the marching pace with Ulquiorra.

His left hand dangled limply on his side. He ignored the pain as he raced at Ulquiorra with Zangetsu raised above his head in a war cry. He swung him at Ulquiorra's face, whom caught it with his teeth and threw Hichigo behind him. Hichigo buries the zanpakto into the sand and swings around the hilt, kicking Ulquiorra straight in the face. Ulquiorra does a flip in the sand but is able to block two consecutive hits from Hichigo using his hands. The force of the shot sent both warriors back a few feet. Both of them raced at each other again, sword and strong as steel hands meeting at the nexxus.

"Give it up, mindless beast...You really expect to damage me with only one arm remaining?" Ulquiorra asked. With that, he pushes Hichigo back using his forearm. Before Hichigo can get up from the ground, he quickly kicks his head into the sand as hard as he could. He then grabbed him by his hair and stares coldly into his cracking mask. For the first time in his lifetime it seemed, a satisfied grin spread across Ulquiorra's lips, his sharp teeth making his expression very creepy. Hichigo is thrown into a nearby building and crashes inside it. Ulquiorra opened and closed his fist, his knuckles cracking with each stretch.

Meanwhile, on the ground inside the building, Hichigo appeared to be in a trance as he stared at the ground. His eyes darted from side to side in their sockets, as if he was dreaming while his eyes were open. This, indeed, was basically what was happening to him at the moment. Flashes of certain events that he did not have any effect in whatsoever were creeping before him.

_An orange-haired boy with a large broadsword hung over his shoulder and a dark-haired boy armed with a bow with spirit arrows as ammunition stood back to back, fighting back an army of hollow surrounding them. The dark-haired warrior suddenly shot an arrow by the orange-haired boy's head, disintegrating one of the hollow who had come close to taking him out._

_Ichigo looked back at Ishida with a look of gratitude. "Thanks!"_

_Ishida stared at him. "Don't thank me, I only did it because he was close to getting me too!"_

_"Whatever, it's all the same, you saved me. Thanks." Ichigo replied._

_"Yea. Now how are we gonna get out of this situation?"_

Hichigo began to feel something rising in his chest area.

Another scene came to him in succession of the ending of the last. In this one, a long, red-haired Shinigami and the same orange-haired boy stood side by side, strategizing for an attack against a man with short wavy brown hair wearing a captain's robe and glasses. The orange haired boy had come to the other's rescue only moments before.

_Ichigo glared into the eyes of the defected captain, Sousuke Aizen. Even with the immense reiatsu emanating from him, Ichigo stood his ground, waiting for his next attack._

_"Hey, Renji. Do you still have enough energy to run away from here?" Ichigo asked the redhead man._

_"I do, but I'm not running..." Renji answered._

_"What...?!" There was no way Ichigo wanted Renji to stay and fight in the condition he was in, along with the fact that he was carrying Rukia at the moment. He was going to argue when Renji cut him off._

_"Just shut up, I've got a plan. Plus, even if I do run, with them--" Renji nodded in the direction of Aizen, Gin and Tousen. "-- still at full strength, there's no chance that I'd be able to escape with Rukia without them catching me and bringing me back here anyways." Ichigo looked over at him, beginning to understand his point. "Zabimaru may be broken but he's still useful!"_

_The scene skips to Renji releasing his Higa Zekkou attack on Aizen and Ichigo rushing in for the close attack._

The feeling that had begun to rise in his chest had gotten stronger. Hichigo couldn't understand the strong emotion he was feeling. _What is this? Cut it out! He's coming and I can't move!_

Ulquiorra had indeed glided up into the hole in the building and began walking over to where Hichigo was now kneeling on one knee, panting hard. Against his will, once again another scene played itself out in his mind.

_The orange-haired teen had walked onto a scene under a bridge with a gang surrounding a muscular teen with brown hair which covered his eyes almost fully. He watches as the leader of the gang, a hair slicked back nose ring wearing punk, take the necklace that Chad's grandfather had given him when he was younger. Ichigo gains a running start and drop kicks the thug to the ground._

_"Yoko-chin! Yoko-chin!" The leader's lackeys called out to him._

_"Ichigo..." Chad seemed stunned to see Ichigo come to his rescue once again. Ichigo grabs the pendant from the fallen Yoko-chin and then fishes for his cell phone in his pocket._

_"Hello? Can you send an ambulance?" Ichigo asked ominously._

_"Did..did he say an ambulance?!" Ichigo went on as if he didn't hear the lackeys speaking however._

_"We're under the Onosegawa bridge at Koshitoriya. Please send--" Ichigo pointed at each thug in turn. "1..2..3..4..5..Five ambulances." Ichigo smirked._

_"You punk!" All five cronies jumped at Ichigo as they began to fight. _

_After the fight, Ichigo is laying on the ground, bleeding slightly from his mouth. "Alright, Chad. You keep doing your thing and don't fight for yourself but, fight for me and I will fight for you. If you put your life on the line to protect something, then I'll put my life on the line to protect it too. Promise?"_

_"Promise." Chad agreed._

Hichigo placed his hand on the ground as he tried to force himself to stand up but failed. _Stop this! I don't need your fucking help to do this! What do your worthless friends have anything to do with this fight! Leave me alone!_

_Ichigo is now standing protectively in front of a long orange-haired girl with his zanpaktou stretched in front of him, leaving no room for the incoming huge palm to continue it's charge unless he wanted his sword pierced through his hand. Ichigo looked into the face of Yammy with intensity._

_"Wha..Who are you?" Yammy bellowed._

_"Ichigo..." Orihime began to tear as she realized that once again Ichigo had to come to her rescue. Ichigo looks over in Ulquiorra's direction for the first time. The scene skips to Ichigo cutting Yammy's arm off and cuts off before Ichigo's hollow tries to take over.._

_Orihime is now kneeling before Ichigo after finding him with a hole in his chest, eyes nearly blank of life. Grimmjow sat on a rock behind her, becoming impatient. "Fix him." He growled. Orihime looks back at him with confusion set in her eyes. Grimmjow just glared unblinkingly back at her._

_Orihime envelops Ichigo in her healing dome as Nel begins to cry. "Who would do such a thing..."_

_"It's Ulquiorra..." Grimmjow answered absentmindedly. "I'll teach him what happens when someone messes with my prey!"_

_"Is that why you want me to heal Kurosaki-kun?!" Orihime questioned angrily. Grimmjow stared at her._

_"What's it to you? It's what you want isn't it? You get to heal him!" Grimmjow replied._

_Orihime looked mortified. "I won't heal him! Not just for you to beat up again! I refuse!" The yellow orb disappeared from around Ichigo._

_"Listen, bitch! I don't remember giving you an option in all of this!" Grimmjow grabbed Orihime's arm, pulling her closer to him. Suddenly, another arm grabbed Grimmjow's arm and shoved him away from Orihime's. He looks up to find Ichigo's hunched, beaten form glaring at him._

_"Get your filthy hand off of her!" Ichigo ordered._

The ballooning feeling in his chest felt like it was now about to burst. However, Ulquiorra now stood before Hichigo, raking his hand in his hair and over his horns shaped like ears on the top of his head. "So, now you know why I didn't want to show you my release. I wonder if your one-track mind can even understand regret. If so, let this defeat teach you the impossibility of someone of your caliber to look down on those whom tower over you. You will die here, nameless beast..." Ulquiorra raised his hand to his chest level, all five fingers stretched to full length ready to strike the final blow to Hichigo's heart.

_Ulquiorra is now walking calmly down the long stairway towards Ichigo, whom had an unfathomable shocked expression plastered on his face._

_"You...you're..Ulquiorra!" Ichigo called out._

_"You remember my name? Funny, I don't remember ever giving it to you..." Ulquiorra was genuinely surprised at Ichigo's great memory. The scene starts to play out of order however._

_Ulquiorra's eyes bored into Ichigo's. "Kuchiki Rukia is dead." Ichigo was taken aback at how calm this piece of news was delivered to him. _It couldn't be...Rukia...Dead? _He hadn't heard right. Sensing Ichigo's confusion, Ulquiorra continued. "To be exact, she and the Noveno Espada defeated each other. Her entire body was slashed to pieces and skewered upon a spear. She is no longer amongst the living..."_

_"Stop talking bullshit...How the hell would you know if you haven't even fought her?!" Ichigo demanded to know. The scene skips to Ichigo thrusting his zanpakto at Ulquiorra whom blocked it with his one hand._

_Ichigo is once again enveloped in Orihime's healing dome when he notices three figures walking toward them. He realizes that the three figures were actually Hanatarou, Byakuya and Captain Unohana. He heard them talking to Kenpachi and the others but what really caught his ear was when Byakuya mentioned that Rukia had been healed. Rukia steps out from behind Byakuya and his heart seemed to burst completely._

That strange feeling that had been threatening all this while, finally seemed to burst with the ending of this flashback. Hichigo grabbed Ulquiorra's incoming final blow with his left hand. The same hand in which had been injured earlier but now appeared to be fully healed and somehow upgraded. It no longer looked like Ichigo's left arm at all. It was now pale white and the fingers were a lot more jagged and pointy than before. It resembled the arm of Ichigo's hollow from when Ichigo's body nearly transformed into a hollow completely during his training with the Vizards. Ulquiorra looked on in a little fear.

"Well, shit...It looks like you're of some use after all...Ichigo! I don't care about any of all that but your pathetic heart has seemed to have made me even stronger!" Hichigo began to laugh maniacally, as Ulquiorra tried to snatch his hand away from his grip. Hichigo slashes down Ulquiorra's body fiercely as blood sprayed the walls around them.

_--_

_Has Ichigo really saved his inner enemy?_

_For the sake of his life, he better have!_

_--_

--xxxxxxxxx--

A:U: Yea, I know not the best summary at the end...but i hope you like how I'm writing this fight with Ichigo/Hichigo and Ulquiorra. and in the flashbacks, I wrote most of it on how i remembered them.


	10. Chapter 10

A/U: Bleach does not belong to me. hopefully i'll get more reviews...

**------------**

**Chapter 10- The Restless Pendulum**

_--_

_Even in first meeting, they're surrounded in an aura of mystery_

_One sees the truth, while everyone else is lost behind the curtains_

_Back to the past..._

--

Shinji walked down the marble hallway leading towards the Captain Commander's meeting room with a frown on his face. He appeared to be in deep thought, a trait common for the serious expression he usually wore. With the length of the hallway, he had plenty of time to think on what he had seen during his trip into Rukongai the day before. How the blue-haired kid had unexpectedly been pushed into the middle of the street, in the direct path of the incoming parade welcoming him into town by a couple of big guys. How without any warning, a brown, wavy haired kid with glasses appeared in front of an incoming punch from one of the bullies and took the punch full-on.

Shinji had expected him to crash into the buildings lined across the street from the force exerted into the punch, but he was surprised to see him remaining rooted to the ground and his head only going back a little. Had even this been the only remarkable event to take place in the scuffle, he would want this kid in his squad immediately and made sure that he would move up to possibly be his vice captain.

But, alas, no. What came next completely blew his mind. Even though the bully had definately made contact with the kid with the glasses and he paid no acknowledgement to being hit, the way the aggressor and the crowd watching the scuffle carried on, Shinji would've assumed it was a one-hit knockout. One of the adults had separated from the crowd on the sidewalk and was trying to stop him from throwing any more punches. Shinji had heard him yell out that it was enough, that he had done enough damage.

This confused him to no end. Had the man seen the same so-called fight he had just seen? Damage? He had begun to wonder if there was any damage to his eyesight after hearing this from the man. He knew what he was seeing while the man was holding the affronting boy away from the fallen blue-haired boy. The brown haired boy was helping him up off the ground and was back on the sidewalk as fast as he had come. Both appeared to be unharmed and talking as if they were speaking on the parade the whole time, as if the fight hadn't just happened at all.

_Did the grown man and the kid even see the savior of the blue-haired boy during the entire showdown?_ Shinji questioned to himself. _Surely, they would've asked who he was. Hell, even acknowledge that he had hit him square on the no--_

Before Shinji could finish thinking this thought fully, he felt something solid at his feet and tripped headfirst onto the floor. He looked above him holding his now bleeding nose to see who had the nerve to trip him up.

"Damn, Shinji! Can't you pay attention long enough to notice my foot in front of you for a couple of seconds?!" Shinji glared into the eyes of his midget-sized, at the present time, nemesis, Hiyori. With her ponytails on the side of her head, lips poked out and eyes mischievously staring back at him, Shinji couldn't resist mistaking her for an immature brat even though she was much older. "I mean, really! Get your head out of your ass for a minute and take a look at your surroundings, it's good for you!"

"Dammit, Hiyori! What are you doing in here? I'm on my way to a freakin' Captain's meeting and you pull a stunt like this?!" Shinji was in her face before he knew he was there. "How am I supposed to explain how I got a bloody nose just on my way there?"

"How about you tell the truth? You're a half-wit that can barely put one foot in front of the other!" Hiyori spat back. They began pushing their foreheads against each other's in a match of will. Somebody pulled Shinji by the collar of his robe before things could get even more heated.

"Calm it down, you guys! There will be plenty of time to flirt after this meeting, I'm sure of it!" A man wearing a similar robe as Shinji with an afro told them. Shinji glared a hole into the guy's eyes as he was held up off of the ground slightly.

"What the hell did you just say, Love?" Shinji hissed out through clenched teeth. He looked comical as he glared at Love while he was held in the air by him. Shinji appeared to have noticed his position however. "Hey, what the hell are you doing? Put me down!"

"Only if you two promise to behave yourselves. We can't have such commotion going on in the hallway to the Captain Commander's meeting room!" Love scolded them.

"Who are you to be telling us what to do like we're little children?!" Hiyori questioned from Love's opposite hand.

"Hmm, well...I am the seventh division captain and you're just a lieutenant, am I correct?" Love asked her.

"Yes, but..." Hiyori kicked and punched the air in Love's grip in protest.

"That explains her, but what about me?! I'm a captain as well!" Hiyori looked pointedly at Shinji for ignoring her completely.

"Hmph, not half the captain as my captain, I might add!" Hiyori said, bitingly.

"What are you trying to say?" Shinji asked.

"Trying? I said it! Hikifune could run circles around you when it comes to being a captain!" Love looked exasperated as he held the two back from going at each other again.

"WELL..I couldn't tell if you were a captain just now Shinji..." Love finally lets them go as Shinji rubbed his forehead and Hiyori lands on her ass, scratching her hair and scowling deeply up at Love. "Let's go, Shinji! We've wasted enough of the rest of the captain's time with this."

"Fine, let's get this over with!" Shinji said as he pushed open the door to the captain's meeting room. Upon opening it, he noticed that the eleven remaining captains were already in their position waiting for their arrival. Shinji grunted, knowing precisely what the first statement that was brought up would be.

"You're late!" The Captain Commander called out. He stamped his huge wooden crutch onto the ground hard, causing it to shake a little. Shinji looked worried as he rubbed his hair once again. He seemed to be taken aback a lot lately.

"Yeah, about that. I had a little bit of an unexpected trip on my way here so it's not my fault!" Shinji offered up an explanation.

"No need to worry, however, I dare say he enjoyed his little trip.." Love quipped. Shinji glared at him for his insinuation. "In fact, I had to drag him away in order to be here right now! It was annoying." Love had to hold back his laughter as hard as he could at Shinji's reaction. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes had shrunk to beads. He knew that Shinji was having a hard time deciding whether he should jump him right then and there in front of the rest of the captains.

"Nice cover there, Love..." Shinji whispered over to him through gritted teeth. "Remind me to kill you after this is over..." Love smirked.

"Shinji's enjoyment over his trip is beyond applicable to the matter at hand. It is dishonorable for a captain to be late to a planned meeting in any fashion and to keep the rest of their brethren waiting like this. Now, take your places so we can finally begin our conference." The Captain Commander berated both men. Love and Shinji walked slowly to their places, as if in shame. Love stopped to the left of an old man with a scarf-looking cloth wrapped around his neck and Shinji stopped to his right.

There were two rows of captains leading away from Yamamoto, organized in terms of the numbered division each one was captain of. For instance, Yamamoto was the first captain, a black woman who was the first captain to his left was the captain of the second division. Her name was Youricihi Shihoin. Next to her stood a man with long blonde hair, Rose Otoribashi, the third division captain. Retsu Unohana, captain of the fourth division which happened to be the healing squad, with a long ponytail and her hands inside her wide sleeves stood calmly waiting for the meeting to commence.

The sixth division captain seemed, next to the Captain Commander himself, to be the oldest of the entire group. If it weren't for his captain's robe to signify to others of his status, at first glance one would have mistaken him as frail and very close to senile. Like most older men, he gave off an aura of great wisdom. A thick gray moustache lined his straight lips and his gray hair was very straight and shiny.

"Now, earlier today, Rukongai had a visit by one of our own to scout for possible talent to join our academy. He's disappointed me however by showing up late after such an honoured nomination. Shinji, address to the rest of us on what you've found!" Yamamoto said.

"Ah, I've heard a lot of rumors about your visit Shinji." A scowling silver-haired man that stood beside the eighth division captain, Shunsui Kyoraku, interrupted suddenly. "Sorry for the cut-in, Captain. But I just don't understand how you could allow such behavior to carry on like that, Shinji..."

"Just what have you heard, Kensei?" Shinji took the defensive. He didn't understand what he had meant. Kensei couldn't have known exactly what had happened for his visit was just the previous morning and he doubted even the person most fond of gossip could've gotten news around fast enough for him to know about it this afternoon. Even if it did, from what it looked like to him, that brown-haired boy with the glasses took care of the situation before he had a chance to move.

"What haven't I heard? There's many a clamor on the fact that a blue-haired boy was seriously hurt after being punched so hard he caused a house to cave in with the force of his body hitting it. I've heard the same boy almost killed another boy before after the kid tried to stop him from fooling around with his sister. I believe her name was Rangiku Matsumoto if I remember correctly. You must have really bad luck for such things to happen when you're in town, Shinji." Kensei pointed at him.

Shinji looked baffled. "Eh..? What are you talking about? There indeed was a disturbance during the parade but none of that happened! I don't know who you've heard that from but that guy never touched the blue-haired boy. I'm wondering, Kensei, what has your source said of the boy with brown hair and glasses?" It was Kensei's turn to look confused.

"A boy with glasses? I've heard of no one by that description from anybody..What about him though?" Kensei asked curiously.

"Well, he was the one that took the punch..." Shinji tried to explained, a little miffed at the blank stare he was receiving from Kensei. "I believe that he was coming to the blue-haired boy's rescue. He came from out of nowhere it seemed. His shunpo was remarkably fast. He appeared in front of the attacker right before he reached his target and took the hit head on. The punch did nothing to him though. He didn't go flying into any building, not even a step from his original position. I was quite impressed with him if I say so myself."

Kensei looked as if he was contemplating. "I just think it's funny that NO ONE has mentioned anything about this boy you speak of but he apparently was the major force in stopping the fight..."

"I think it's even funnier that you would think that I would make something like this up!" Shinji raised his voice. "I was there, Kensei! I can't help what gossip you've heard that says otherwise, I can only go on with what I saw!"

"I find no reason why we should not believe Shinji for the moment. It'd take some imagination to come up with a story such as that in such a short amount of time." A woman with short, neck-length brown hair standing beside a tall and muscular captain spoke up. Kensei made a grunting sound. "And besides, what would he have to gain by lying about it?"

"Eh..Thanks Hikifune..." Shinji reluctantly gave her gratitude. He had always seen Hikifune as a sort of rival, mostly because of the fact that Hiyori was her lieutenant, so he was surprised to see her come to his rescue like that. "My mission was to scout out possible candidates to be Soul Reapers and if I may be blunt, I believe I've found one that's more than qualified, Captain-Commander! Allow me to visit this boy and I'll show everyone here just what I mean!" Shinji bowed deeply towards Yamamoto.

"I would like to see this..." Kensei muttered.

Yamamoto stared deeply at Shinji. "Alright! You have peaked my interest in this boy Captain Hirako. You have until tomorrow to make contact and to bring him to the academy for further examinations."

"Thank you, sir! I will not disappoint!" Shinji stood up and turned towards the door to leave, his captain's jacket swaying behind him. He had high expectations for this young boy with glasses.

_--_

_Frustration mounts as no one believes him_

_He want's to rise the curtains for everyone to see_

_The story of his regret begin_

_--_

--

A/U: Leave comments...


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